J.K. Rowling says rival Potter book would exploit her

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire Harry Potter author J.K.
Rowling would feel "exploited" if a fan's unofficial
encyclopedic companion to the boy wizard series was published,
she said in court papers made public on Thursday.

Steve Vander Ark has written "The Harry Potter Lexicon" --
a 400-page reference book based on his popular fan Web site
(www.hp-lexicon.org). Rowling and Warner Bros. are suing RDR
Books, which planned to publish the book last November.

"I am very frustrated that a former fan has tried to co-opt
my work for financial gain," Rowling, 42, who wrote the seven
hugely successful Harry Potter novels, said in a declaration
filed in U.S. District Court this week.

"I believe that RDR's book constitutes a Harry Potter 'rip
off' of the type I have spent years trying to prevent, and that
both I, as the creator of this world, and fans of Harry Potter,
would be exploited by its publication," she said.

The lawsuit filed in October names RDR Books, an
independent publisher based in Michigan, and unidentified
persons as defendants. It seeks to stop publication and
requests damages for copyright and federal trademark
infringement and any profits to be gained.

Rowling has said she plans to write her own definitive
Harry Potter encyclopedia, which would include material that
did not make it into the novels, and donate the proceeds to
charity. The novels have sold more than 400 million copies.

"I feel intensely protective, firstly, of the literary
world I spent so long creating, and secondly, of the fans who
bought my books in such large numbers," said the British writer
ranked by Forbes as the world's 48th most powerful celebrity.

RDR Books has said Vander Ark, a librarian, had spoken at
Harry Potter academic conferences in Britain, Canada and the
United States and that a timeline he created was used by Warner
Bros. in DVD releases of the Harry Potter films.
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